RESUMO
The research progress of puerarin and its derivatives in anti-inflammatory and anti-gout activities was reviewed in this paper. Puerarin possesses anti-inflammatory activity by affecting immunocyte, inflammation cytokines and signaling pathway. Puerarin also has anti-gout activity through inhibition of xanthine oxidase, promoting the excretion of uric acid to reduce serum uric acid level. Although its ability in reducing uric acid level was lower than that of allopurinol in clinical application, puerarin can also enhance the total antioxidant and free radical scavenging with stronger anti-inflammatory effect, so it will be a promising research direction to find new drugs with better anti-gout activity and less side effects by modifying the chemical structure of puerarin.